14 posts by Sam Middleton Beattie

‘Make my wish come trueeee… all I want for Christmas is youuu!’ Scott was in good voice, matching Mariah Carey note for note as she boomed out from a brand new waterproof speaker. This Christmas present, given to him by Suzie just an hour earlier, had really taken his shower-performances to the next level. After one final rousing chorus, Scott stepped out the shower in a cloud of steam and…

It’s fair to say the city of Edinburgh is a great place to try whisky. As well as some being in close proximity to some fantastic lowland distilleries, the capital serves as a gateway to the rest of Scotland, and you’ll find a huge selection of whiskies from world-renowned names and lesser-known producers in Edinburgh’s high-end bars and hidden haunts. With single malts and Scottish specialities on…

Twas the night before Christmas, but no time for sleep! Not for Scott at least. For the past few hours, he’d been hard at work doing as much prep as possible for Christmas lunch. The key to Christmas is confidence - confidence and making sure the hard bits are taken care of before everyone arrives and all the madness sets in. With this in mind, he’d set about…

Scott sank into his favourite chair, relishing the warmth from the wood fire roaring beside his feet. After a few minutes, he had warmed up enough to remove his woolly slippers and wiggle his toes by the fireside. Outside, the winter wind was wrapping at the windows, but this was of no concern to Scott. Indeed, he took a certain pleasure from being all warm and cosy whilst it was…

For much of the 20th century, the predominant trend in Scotland was for whisky distilleries to be shutting their doors. Thankfully, that decline is now in reverse: at the end of 2017 there were 126 Scottish Distilleries, with plenty more opening in 2018. Though we are all immensely excited about this new whisky boom, and eager to try new spirits from the likes of Raasay Distillery it’s sad that…